I don't intend this to be snarky, but what evidence is there that the field drawings will suddenly not be the dumpster fire that they have been for the entirety of the 18 years I've been a participant in FIRST?

I think if you accept money from someone by selling them on advertising demographics, you're on the hook to deliver on those demographics. I think if you sell someone on the good of your mission, you are on the hook to fulfill your mission.

Your right, too many teams these days are going the cheap and easy way out and sacrificing the learning experience of students. That's why we have our students mine all the raw bauxite and then refine it, smelt it and extrude it into aluminium box tube.

Perhaps the reason we are all so frustrated with empty platitudes is that we do see them regularly and FIRST as an organization should aspire to be something greater than the empty soulless hellscape that is corporate mediocrity.

There is no bigger compliment than being told that your work is good enough that it couldn't possibly have been done by students, which is how I'm choosing to interpret your comments. I'll let the other students on the programming team know; I'm sure they'll be very proud.

It's not the judges' responsibility to keep streaks alive. That's on the teams to continue pushing the envelope of what they can achieve with their programs, and continue giving the judges new and better reasons to select them each year.